Question

Topic: Branding

Windy City Branding / Corporate Restructuring

Posted by charles on 6/27/2011 at 9:41 AM ET 500 Points
We've been operating under the brand/trade name of "Windy City Website Design Studios" for about a year now, and are looking to A) incorporate under a different legal framework (Delaware LLC), and B) consider changing the actual company name, while leaving the trade name intact.

My question is this:

Windy City Website Design Studios has been a point of contention for me, every time a client goes to write a check, "boy, that's a long name." I am considering a number of revisions to the company name (must end with comma, LLC). None of them are creative, and none are available.

So, I ask you all... what are your suggestions? We're trying to maintain a local brand, but at the same time, keep the doors open to customers around the country/world without turning them off with the whole "Windy City" thing. I've gotten a lot of great advice by reading this forum in the past, but have never submitted an actual question myself. Any assistance would be hugely appreciated.

Best Regards,

Charles

Charles C. Lewis
Lead Project Manager
Windy City Website Design Studios
[Contact info deleted by staff]
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Gail@PUBLISIDE on 6/27/2011 at 12:36 PM Member
    Have you considered/researched something like ChiSites or something like that? You can also use initials to make things shorter, although you might want to use an acronym to make it memorable.
  • Posted by charles on 6/27/2011 at 1:01 PM Author
    Windy City Media, LLC was my first choice. It is not available. Something like that... looking to have a strong corporate brand that extends to not just websites but also marketing & development across all forms of media. As we continue to grow, the intent is to have something that we can stick with for the long haul.

    Charles
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 6/27/2011 at 1:39 PM Member
    How about: "WWWindy City, LLC" or "Chicago Online Media, LLC"?
  • Posted by charles on 6/27/2011 at 1:47 PM Author
    Let's stick to something which can be used as a tool for branding both online and offline. Trying to stay away from the obvious cheesy stuff, and stick to something which exudes a strong corporate identity.

    Charles
  • Posted by SteveByrneMarketing on 6/27/2011 at 3:21 PM Member
    assuming you have clients outside of the Chicago city limits, how about ...

    windycitiesmediallc.com is available!
  • Posted by charles on 6/27/2011 at 3:37 PM Author
    Just thinking outside the box here... the business needs to have an effective brand that can be used both online and offline. We are sticking with windycitywebsites.com for the domain, though I've already registered a number of others. Trying to find a corporate brand that can tie in with the trade name (windy city website design studios), while still having that OOMPH of the strong corporate image (global media, corporate / small business design & marketing, SEO, etc). You guys hearing me on this? Any help would be hugely appreciated. Really need some additional creative brains on this one.

    Regards,
    Charles
  • Posted by SteveByrneMarketing on 6/27/2011 at 5:31 PM Member
    Charles,

    re: You guys hearing me on this?

    It would be helpful if you were not spoon feeding the information as you are currently doing. To be professional would be to write a complete creative brief and provide a link for all to see. Our collective "creative brains" are only as valuable as your thoughtful input to us.

    Hope this helps,

    Steve
  • Posted by charles on 6/27/2011 at 6:04 PM Author
    What I've listed here is pretty much it, Steve. Thanks for the heads up though. Your input is appreciated a great deal. Cheers.

    Charles
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 6/27/2011 at 10:04 PM Accepted
    ChicagoWebsiteDesignLLC.com is available, with the search term Chicago Website Design pulling in 33,100 searches per month on Google.

    But something puzzles me.

    What has your contact information at the end of your post
    got to do with your question? Good for your SEO, but not, strictly speaking, really necessary to the weight of your question.

    Why hasn't this information been deleted by one of the
    M.Profs admin people? Contact information is normally omitted, or deleted, or talked about off forum. Otherwise it's blatant self promotion, which I thought was frowned upon.

  • Posted by charles on 6/28/2011 at 2:00 PM Author
    Thanks for all the help, everyone. We've decided to go a different direction with the name. Appreciate the input.
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